"There are a lot more out there than you can see," OREPA organizer Hutchinson quipped.
After a period of silence, which lent a serious tone to our presence at the gates, with our First Amendment rights restricted, we realized that shuttle vehicles had either been towed or otherwise prevented from entering the area to retrieve walkers, many who were elders already tired out from the two mile walk.
We headed back to the park, along the opposite side of the road, past ditches thick with green algae. We were expecting a water break at a public parking area in front of Panera Bakery. Even this level of hospitality was thwarted by police who warned walkers to keep moving and leave the parking lot. Evidently, as overheard on a police radio by arrested legal observer Bill Ramsey, police had succeeded in convincing management of the bakery to object to peace walkers on the lot.
The three arrestees
were transported from Oak Ridge to the Anderson County jail in Clinton,
Tenn. Jail support outside the county
lock up was strong. Folks shared food, blankets, water and stories. It was not
the first time OREPA had held vigil here.
Bail for Brother Utsumi and Bill Ramsey was set at $200, and Larry
Coleman was freed on $100 bail.
Court dates for the three April 6 arrests were scheduled for late April. The trial of Sr. Megan Rice, Greg Obed-Bjorte, and Michael Walli, each facing as much as 35 years imprisonment, is set in Knoxville for May 7. Go to the website of Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance for updates
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